For James Franklin, Penn State's first-year coach and one of college football's most gregarious recruiters, maybe the trick to securing top talent really is as simple as The Do's and the Don'ts.

Franklin and his coaches capped a tireless display of work on Wednesday (better known as National Signing Day) by unveiling Penn State's 2014 recruiting class -- a group of 25 players that many recruiting experts consider to be a top-25 class.

Franklin was all over the place on Signing Day.

He worked the phones and shook hands inside Penn State's recruiting "bunker" while the faxed signatures from recruits arrived in the morning.

He made appearances on national TV.

He met with the PSU media late in the afternoon inside Beaver Stadium.

And he hosted Penn State's signing event at the Bryce Jordan Center, open to the public, early in the evening to interact with PSU fans and PSU students.

It sure looks like a good class, one that includes two new quarterbacks (Trace McSorley and Michael O'Connor), a few big-play skill guys (tight end Mike Gesicki and wideouts Chris Godwin and Saeed Blacknall), a squadron of defensive backs and four badly needed offensive tackles.

But my question is, how did Franklin assemble it? He did it on short notice (his introductory news conference was Jan. 11) and he did it with some help from former coach Bill O'Brien.

Most important, he did it.

And listening to him on Wednesday, you can tell Franklin trusts his methods. I think it boils down to Do's and Don'ts.

Such as:

**DO always be on the lookout for athletes with massive skulls. (No, seriously, do.).

"I'm a big 'features' guy,'' Franklin said.

"I like to recruit guys with massive heads, big hands, long arms and big feet, 'cause that shows growth potential. We talk about that all of the time, features.

"Those guys have a chance to grow into big, physical guys on the field and still have the athleticism that we're looking for.

"You'll see our model at offensive line, typically, we'll recruit the 6-5, 6-6 guys that are 275-280 pounds (and) that are high school basketball players because we want speed and athleticism at every position. That's kicker, that's punter, that's long-snapper, that's O-line.''

Franklin added: "A lot of time when you talk about speed, everybody thinks about cornerback, receiver, running back. We're talking about speed throughout the program.''

**DO talk to every possible useful source regarding a recruit who you are interested in. And not just the moms and dads and sisters and brothers. Even the janitor. Franklin's mother was a custodian at his high school, Neshaminy, and the PSU head coach believes custodians know a little about everything.

"It's amazing, you walk into the office and you're sitting there, waiting to get into the school,'' Franklin said.

"And there's a student there and you can ask him about one of the recruits. And you're going to find out a lot, when you talk to the guidance counselors, you talk to the teachers, you talk to the other students, if you talk to the custodian staff. … Those people (custodians) are the eyes and ears of the schools."

**DO NOT be afraid to pursue recruits from your former school. Franklin did just that with Vanderbilt recruits. And the former Commodores coach convinced five of them -- offensive linemen Chance Sorrell and Brendan Brosnan, corners Grant Haley and Amani Oruwariye and quarterback Trace McSorley) to flip to Penn State.

"I'm very comfortable. I go to sleep at night feeling really good about how we conduct our business,'' Franklin said.

Coatesville two-way star Daquan Worley, projected as a cornerback, is one of three Pennsylvania players in Penn State's 2014 recruiting class.Photo courtesy 247sports.com

"When 'we' got the job, we called all the Penn State commitments, had great conversations with them, kinda told them who we were. And then the next thing we did (is) we called all our former Vanderbilt commitments to let them know what happened and why. "And to be honest with you, a lot of those kids started recruiting us,'' Franklin continued.

"And that's because of the relationship. And we all know the school is a huge factor.

"But once the guys narrow it down to a number of schools, it's no different than anybody else in this room. It comes down to relationships, it comes down to who you're most comfortable with, it comes down to who you trust.''

**DO NOT recruit a kid unless you have done your homework on him.

"You know, we were not going to get into a situation where we come to Penn State, find a guy that we don't know a whole lot about and then start recruiting him,'' Franklin said.

"That's a recipe for disaster. We were going to make sure that we knew these kids, knew their families for a long time.

"That's why you see, probably uncharacteristic of a Penn State recruiting class, these guys come from all over the country.''

**DO play to your strengths as a recruiter. And YOU BETTER have the right ones if you're going toe-to-toe with the Ohio States, Michigans and Michigan States for top athletes.

Franklin was asked to identify the traits all great recruiters possess.

"The traits (are), you know, you gotta be confident,'' he said.

"You've got to walk into these schools and the guys that we're going to be recruiting against, they're going to be the top programs in the country.

"And you've got to be confident to walk in and compete with those guys.

"You have to know your product, to sell your product, all the strengths and the history and tradition that we have here at Penn State.

"You gotta have some personality, you've got to be charismatic and you've got to be honest.''

Franklin said his entire staff possesses most, or all, of these traits. And the end result is a recruiting class like Penn State's 2014 version. Top-25ish.

"I just feel like that's one of the strengths of this staff, is (that) they're guys who are very, very true to who they are,'' Franklin said.

"And I think that comes off. I don't think that's something that happens overnight. It's years and years of recruiting areas and developing a relationship.''

"It's been an evolution,'' added Franklin, talking about himself as a recruiter.

"I've always been in a situation and been on staffs where you emphasize recruiting because to me it's very, very simple: